[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 108 (Monday, July 21, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1542]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     IN HONOR OF THE MEMORY OF THE HONORABLE WILKIE D. FERGUSON JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 21, 2003

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 
memory of a dear friend, the late Honorable Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr., who 
passed away on Monday, June 9, 2003. The passing of Wilkie Ferguson is 
a great loss to our country's pursuit of justice and the rights of the 
oppressed. As a state and then federal judge, he applied the law justly 
and ensured that the less powerful members of society received fair 
treatment under the law.
  Wilkie Ferguson pursued social justice in the U.S. legal system from 
the outset of his legal career, back in 1968. He was appointed to his 
first judgeship, on the Florida Court of Industrial Claims, in 1973. 
Four years later he was named to the circuit bench. One of his most 
important rulings came in the 1980 Circuit Court decision in which he 
threw out a verdict because African Americans were excluded from the 
jury. He was the first judge to find such systematic exclusion 
unacceptable and the Florida Supreme Court later supported his 
decision. It is appalling that such racial inequity exists in our 
judicial system and in our country, and Wilkie Ferguson was the first 
judge to recognize and correct this particular injustice in our legal 
system.
  In 1980, Wilkie was appointed by then Governor Bob Graham to 
Florida's Third District Court of Appeal, where he served until 1993. 
He was the first African American appointed to the Miami-Dade Circuit 
Court and to the Third District Court of Appeal. This enormous 
achievement shows how, in addition to paving the way for others through 
his work from the bench, he was also a living example of the pioneering 
path of equality and progress that he laid for all Americans.
  In 1993, Wilkie Ferguson was nominated by President Clinton to be a 
U.S. District Judge, becoming the third African American appointed to 
the federal bench in Southern Florida. He is credited with helping 
thousands of disabled Floridians; in 1996 he prevented the state from 
cutting funding for the disabled, and in another 1996 ruling he 
influenced the state to eventually increase funding for the disabled by 
nearly $300 million.
  Judge Ferguson was also active in community service. In addition to 
chairing the board of trustees of Florida Memorial College, he 
participated in the Judicial Council of the National Bar and the ``Just 
The Beginning Foundation''. He and his wife, County Commissioner Betty 
Tucker Ferguson, were also leaders in their local community.
  Wilkie Ferguson's successes are numerous and vital, but he will be 
remembered for how he reached these goals as much as for the 
accomplishments themselves. The values of the supreme dignity and worth 
of every human being were not just abstract ends that he pursued 
through judicial decisions; they were also manifest in the respect and 
sensitivity with which he treated others. When a plaintiff needed to 
care for his disabled son, Judge Ferguson offered the use of his 
judicial chambers. In an article last week in the South Florida Sun 
Sentinel, attorney Joel Hirschhorn noted, ``Even in the worst criminal 
defendant, I think he saw the human side.''
  Daniel Pearson, a former appeals judge, expressed that Ferguson 
``added a dimension of fairness and humanity to the court.'' Judge 
Ferguson, who is survived by his wife, two children and three siblings, 
was also an extremely hard and dedicated worker, an exceedingly modest 
man and a good friend. His compassion and great judicial 
accomplishments will be missed by all.

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